Based on a cross-border study, this paper investigates the patterns and characteristics of inner development potentials in metropolitan areas in a German and a Swiss region. It aims at finding out possibilities for mobilising these areas.

Abstract

European metropolitan areas have witnessed in the last few decades a rapid urban growth mostly in the form of urban sprawl. It is estimated that the land consumption in the last fifty years is more than that of all earlier generations.Inner development as a strategy for spatial development is suggested as a sustainable alternative for urban sprawl. Meanwhile many metropolitan regions in Europe have reached their limits of urban growth as a result of physical or administrative limits. On the contrary, in all parts of the agglomerations there is a significant amount of potentials for inner development. While these inner development potentials represent a chance for spatial development, there existence for long time represents a failure for spatial development policies.Based on the results of the project Raum+, a cross-border project among several German regions and the Swiss Canton Basel-Landschaft, it is apparent that the amount of inner development potentials in the surroundings of core cities in metropolitan areas represents a very important proportion of the total inner development potentials in the metropolitan area for future developments. In addition it is also evident that the amount, the patterns of distribution and the characteristics of these potentials in the examined regions Germany and in Switzerland are essentially different.After introducing these differences by comparing a German region and a Swiss Canton in the distribution and characteristics of inner development potentials, this paper investigates the reasons for these differences. Several aspects are examined in this context: land policy, planning legalisation, cooperation forms (core city – agglomeration) and planning culture. This comparison aims at identifying possibilities for mobilising these potentials and finding out the required measures to avoid the emergence of new such underused areas. These results are not only relevant for Europe, but have applicability in other parts of the world.